Today’s notice: Democrats in Montana stare into the abyss and abortion rights opponents stare into the mirror. Plus: where to stare deeply into the eyes of your reality show date, according to Tony P.
Montana and the Twilight of the Rural Democrat
Things do not look good for Jon Tester, causing Democrats in Montana to start thinking about what comes next. And what comes next, apparently, is a full-on existential crisis. Dems are grumbling about a disappearing party infrastructure that seems to exist only when Tester needs it and otherwise has not done much to build a strong base in the state.
“Tradition in Montana is the people that are elected to the U.S. Senate, the Democrats, they kind of got their thing going on in Washington, D.C., for five years, and then they come back on the sixth year,” ex-Gov. Brian Schweitzer told NOTUS’ Casey Murray. “On that sixth year, they show up with a lot of money, and we get a lot of effort in getting Democrats to show up to vote.”
In an era of seemingly limitless money, it seems odd that Democrats haven’t figured out how to build something more permanent in rural places. But they haven’t, says Matt Barron, a rural Dem strategist who will tell anyone who listens how badly the party has failed at attracting and keeping rural voters. What comes next in Montana should be very easy to execute, he says: Dems need to invest a lot of money, fast, in building out a lasting party infrastructure that supports downstream party organizations.